Saskatchewan Environmental Society--Working for a Sustainable Future

Nuclear Power

“Nuclear power, once claimed to be too cheap to meter, is now too costly to matter.”
—The Economist, May 19, 2001

Would nuclear power be a good choice for Saskatchewan? Like so many people in the province today you may be asking this question and have come here to find information to help you answer this question. SES has two helpful documents here and some links to other credible resources.

You can begin your reading with our two documents:

People are Asking - Would Nuclear Power be a Good Choice for Saskatchewan? (PDF) — This document addresses the economics of nuclear power, its safety, how clean it is as an energy source, nuclear waste management, whether or not it is an appropriate solution to climate change, its link to nuclear weapons and whether there are cleaner, safer more economic alternatives.

Saskatchewan Environmental Society Position on Nuclear Power (PDF) — This position paper looks at the economics, waste management, radioactive emissions and security issues associated with nuclear power. Why this power source will not be the solution to making the urgently needed and substantial reductions to Saskatchewan’s greenhouse gas emissions is discussed. An economically and environmentally sound alternative to meeting the province’s energy needs while making the necessary greenhouse gas emissions reductions is outlined.

Other Resources

The Pembina Institute, a highly respected Canadian environmental think-tank, has a number of informative publications on nuclear power and the related issue of uranium mining.

Nuclear Power in Canada: An Examination of Risks, Impacts and Sustainability — This comprehensive, 130-page study examines the environmental impacts of the use of nuclear energy for electricity generation in Canada through each of the four major stages of nuclear energy production: uranium mining and milling; uranium refining, conversion and fuel fabrication; nuclear power plant operation; and waste fuel management. It is intended to inform public debate over the future role of nuclear energy in Canada, and to facilitate comparisons of nuclear energy with other potential energy sources. There is also an 8-page summary report available.

Clearing the Air: Nuclear Power and Climate Change — This 8-page factsheet details eight reasons why nuclear power shouldn’t be considered an appropriate response to climate change.

Nuclear Power in Canada: Key Environmental Impacts (Background) — This 3-page media backgrounder looks at nuclear power’s four key environmental impacts – solid and liquid wastes; water contamination and consumption; air contamination; and greenhouse gas emissions.

Clearing the Air: Uranium Mining: Nuclear Power's Dirty Secret — This 4-page factsheet looks at the impacts of uranium mining to explain why nuclear power is not the “clean” energy source that its proponents say it is.

Why expanding nuclear power would reduce and retard climate protection and energy security… but can’t survive free-market capitalism — Amory B. Lovins is Chairman and Chief Scientist of the Rocky Mountain Institute, a world-renowned think tank on energy solutions. This is his invited testimony of at the hearing of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming on “Nuclear Power in a Warming World: Solution or Illusion?” in March 2008.

In his presentation, Lovins shows why nuclear power is “being dramatically outcompeted in the global marketplace by no- and low-carbon electrical resources that deliver far more climate solution per dollar, far faster; and why nuclear expansion would inhibit climate protection, energy security, and reliably powering prosperity.” He provides data that show that world-wide nuclear power is “‘micropower’—cogeneration plus distributed renewables—now produces a sixth of the world’s total electricity (more than nuclear), at least a third of the world’s new electricity, and from one-sixth to more than half of all electricity in a dozen industrial countries (the U.S. lags with just 4%). ‘Negawatts’—electricity saved by using it more efficiently or timely— are about as big worldwide as micropower and cost even less.”

Nuclear Power Crawling Forward — This article published by the World Watch Institute looks at 2007 data on the global growth of installed capacity of nuclear power (10% of the new wind power installed globally in 2007) and new reactors underway (35% of which have been under construction for more than 20 years).

Here are a few more links to the websites of other organizations:

Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility

Nuclear Information Resource Service

Heinrich Boell Foundation, Germany — several issue papers on nuclear power on this page

Rocky Mountain Institute